The Blog of Ian Pace, pianist, musicologist, political animal. A place for thoughts, reflections, links, both trivial and not so trivial. Main website is at http://www.ianpace.com . Contact e-mail ian@ianpace.com.

Ms A told the trial of three former social workers accused of physically and sexually abusing children: ”He wanted you to tell him perverted thoughts, like I wanted to be a lesbian with the women staff.”

She said Mr Beck would become violent if she refused to admit harbouring lesbian emotions. ”You’d get shaken by the hair or you’d get a towel round the throat until you admitted it.”

Ms A said she often saw boys violently treated by Mr Beck and added: ”He’s given me a black eye before. He just used to punch your mouth in. He had no mercy.”

Earlier, Clifford Savage, who worked as deputy to Mr Beck at the Beeches children’s home in Leicester in 1985, said he saw him acting violently to youngsters in care on several occasions.

Mr Savage told the court he finally contacted social services bosses after receiving two complaints about Mr Beck from junior staff members.

After the complaints, Mr Beck had never worked at the Beeches again.

Mr Beck denies 32 charges of abuse against children and former staff. Two former deputies, Peter Jaynes, 42, and George Lincoln, 39, deny a total of four charges.

Detective Sergeant Michael Creedon told Leicester crown court he was one of the officers who arrested Frank Beck, 49, at his Leicester home on April 14 after allegations of sexual misconduct at children’s homes he ran in the 1970s and 1980s.

Det Sgt Creedon, giving evidence in the trial of Mr Beck and two other social workers, said he was involved in taking statements from prosecution witnesses. John Black, defending Mr Beck, asked if his team had taken a decision to ‘break the rules’ to get his client convicted. ‘Not at all, quite the opposite,’ he replied.

Det Sgt Creedon denied that witnesses were told by police that they would be able to sue Leicestershire social services for ‘substantial compensation’ if Mr Beck was convicted. ‘We had so many willing witnesses, we had no reason to try and persuade reluctant witnesses,’ he said. Referring to statements, Mr Black said: ‘I’m suggesting this is fabrication by you.’ ‘I had no need to and nothing to gain by doing it,’ the detective replied.

Mr Beck denies 32 allegations of physical and sexual abuse against children and social workers between 1974 and 1986. Two former deputies, George Lincoln, 39, of Sudbury, Suffolk, and Peter Jaynes, 42, of Chatham, Kent, deny a total of four charges. The trial continues.

The Independent(London)

October 29, 1991, Tuesday

Children’s homes chief cleared of five charges

BYLINE: By JACK O’SULLIVAN, Social Services Correspondent

SECTION: HOME NEWS PAGE; Page 2

LENGTH: 372 words

A JUDGE yesterday directed findings of not guilty on five charges against Frank Beck, a former head of three Leicestershire children’s homes. Mr Justice Jowitt said that there was insufficient evidence on the five counts against Mr Beck, 49, who still faces 27 charges, including serious sexual offences, against children in his care over 13 years up to 1986.

The judge said that the charge of buggery against Mr C, when he was eight or nine years old, at Ratcliffe Road home in Leicester, could not stand because Mr Beck had stopped working there a year before the alleged offence. Mr Justice Jowitt also said that the prosecution had failed to present evidence to prove the charges that Mr Beck had buggered Mr D and Mr K, fellow residential social workers, at two of the homes. The judge said: ”There is an important difference between reluctantly letting something happen and not consenting.”

The prosecution had not proven lack of consent. Two other charges of actual bodily harm to Mr J, 14, and a woman, whom Mr Beck is also accused of raping, were also dismissed.

Earlier, Nasreen Akrim, 29, a psychologist who worked at one home with Mr Beck, said she had complained in 1982 to Leicestershire social services department that Mr Beck was hitting children and intimidating staff. Mr Beck’s behaviour made her believe ”that Hitler did not die, he came and ran this place”.

She recalled seeing Mr Beck with a 10-year-old boy who was accused of stealing. ”Frank Beck was in the front room with this little boy on his lap. He was pressing two fingers on the temple area and the boy was screaming with pain.” Mr Beck had said he learnt the technique in the Marines and that it was good because it left no mark, Ms Akrim said. Another time, she heard shouting and slapping coming from a room where Mr Beck was counselling a boy. The boy emerged with his spectacles broken and red hand-marks on his face.

Today, Mr Beck, who denies all the charges, is expected to give evidence. Two other former social workers are being tried with Mr Beck. George Lincoln, 39, of Sudbury, Suffolk, denies one charge of buggery, and Peter Jaynes, 42, of Chatham, Kent, denies three charges.

The Guardian (London)

October 29, 1991

Abuse case acquittals

LENGTH: 115 words

A FORMER social worker was yesterday acquitted of five of 32 charges of sexual abuse at children’s homes.

The acquittals at Leicester crown court came after the prosecution had called 45 witnesses over six weeks. It alleged Frank Beck, aged 49, formerly of Braunstone, Leicester, exercised a reign of terror at three children’s homes over 13 years until 1986, assaulting children and also young staff.

Yesterday Mr Justice Jowitt said that the evidence on five of the 32 charges was unsafe, and Mr Beck was cleared of three offences of buggery and two of assault. Mr Beck denies all the charges. Accused with him are Peter Jaynes, aged 42, and George Lincoln, aged 39.

The Times

October 30, 1991, Wednesday

Children’s worker denies being gay

BYLINE: By David Young

SECTION: Home news

LENGTH: 166 words

THE former social worker at the centre of allegations of sex abuse at children’s homes that he ran in Leicestershire denied yesterday that he was a homosexual.

Frank Beck, aged 49, was giving evidence at a Leicester crown court trial, where he denies 27 charges of physical and sexual abuse.

The trial judge had earlier ordered the withdrawal of five other charges, three of buggery and two of assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

Mr Beck yesterday told the jury at the start of the trial’s seventh week that he was not homosexual. He said that he had served nine years in the Royal Marines and would have been thrown out had he been involved in homosexuality. He denied allegations made during evidence for the prosecution that he had been an interrogator and had boasted abou torturing prisoners.

Two of Mr Beck’s former deputies, George Lincoln, aged 39, of Sudbury, Suffolk, and Peter Jaynes, aged 42, of Chatham, Kent, deny a total of four charges.

The trial continues.

Press Association

October 30, 1991, Wednesday

MP JANNER ABUSED CHILD, SAYS SEX CASE MAN

SECTION: HOME NEWS

LENGTH: 485 words

Labour MP Greville Janner sexually abused a boy in care over a two-year period, the chief of a children’s home told a court today. Frank Beck made the allegation while giving evidence at Leicester Crown Court, where he is denying 27 charges of sexual and physical abuse of children and former members of staff at children’s homes over a 13-year period up until 1978. He said many of the youngsters in his care at Ratcliffe Road children’s home in Leicester, had had sexual experiences. “A number had been abused,” he said. “A lot of them felt they were responsible for that abuse and suffered a great deal of guilt. “I only ever got caught up in spontaneous chats with one child where a great deal of sexual activity was discussed. No, I would say two children.” He added: “One child has been buggered and abused for two solid years by Greville Janner. “That child felt guilty and it was important that it should be talked about so he did not suffer the guilt.”

Beck, 49, said he encouraged children to talk about sexual matters because so many had been abused. He admitted, under questioning from Mr John Black, defending, that he had told children to go and masturbate themselves. “Two children had been seriously abused – the one I’ve already mentioned, he was abused over two years – and another one who had spent long periods in London,” Beck said. “It was necessary to discuss with them what they had been through.” He denied encouraging any boys to behave homosexually, adding: “I think I did more than most to try and prevent it.” He had acted angrily when boys at the home were caught together in a homosexual act, he said. Earlier in the trial a woman who claimed Beck raped and buggered her said she overheard an argument between Beck and a boy resident named as Mr A. “It was an argument about him going off to see a man called Greville Janner?” Mr Black asked the woman, who is now 31. She replied: “He was shouting to Paul that he wasn’t going to see Greville Janner any more.” She said Mr A boasted of being a rent boy when he first arrived at the home. Beck, formerly of Leicester, was close to tears as he denied physically abusing children. He said he had slapped children. Quoting from a phrase in a report on control of children in care he wrote in the 1970s, Beck said: “Punishment without love is bitterness, punishment based on fear destroys.” He added: “I don’t believe anyone has the right to hit anyone unless they love them.”

Stephen Pollard, of Kingsley Napley, lawyers for Mr Janner, said in a statement to the Press Association: “All we can say within the constraints of the Contempt of Court Act is that since the trial is continuing at Leicester Crown Court the matter is sub judice. We have therefore advised Greville Janner that he is prevented from making any statements at this stage.”

The trial was adjourned until tomorrow.

The Independent (London)

October 30, 1991, Wednesday

Children’s home head ‘framed as a monster’

BYLINE: By JACK O’SULLIVAN, Health Services Correspondent

SECTION: HOME NEWS PAGE; Page 3

LENGTH: 631 words

FRANK BECK, the former head of three Leicestershire children’s homes who is accused of buggering 11 children, has been framed, Leicester Crown Court was told yesterday.

Accusations had been made by witnesses of questionable integrity, John Black, counsel for Mr Beck, told the court. He suggested the police had become carried away with the belief that ”they were dealing with a monster”.

Later, Mr Beck, giving evidence for the first time, denied ever abusing children. He occasionally slapped them but only within the corporal punishment regulations. He denied ever being a practising homosexual. He defended his use of ”regression therapy”, which involves taking a person back to their infancy in an attempt to repair emotional damage.

The prosecution alleges the therapy was a cover for Mr Beck’s ”reign of terror” when he sexually and physically abused children. Mr Beck said that staff had cuddled children on their laps and bathed them during regression therapy, when they would drink from babies’ bottles. When children flew into tantrums, he would control them by wrapping his arms and legs around them, but he never used violence nor, as alleged, did he wrap towels around their necks. He denied that children ever wore nappies.

Opening for the defence, Mr Black said: ”There is one significant and emphatic question mark hanging over this case in relation to the integrity of the police and the integrity of some of the witnesses.”

He said certain witnesses had proved unreliable. For example, Mr Beck had left one home nearly 18 months before he was alleged to have buggered a child there, Mr Black said. Another who complained that Mr Beck had buggered him, had in the past made complaints but about other members of staff, never Mr Beck.

A third, Mr F, had written to Mr Beck in prison wishing him well at the trial, months after signing a police statement alleging that he had been buggered and assaulted by Mr Beck. Prosecution witnesses had returned, years after leaving the children’s homes, to see Mr Beck.

Mr Black asked how such witnesses ”can make allegations against Mr Beck which the defence would say are palpably and demonstrably untrue? How comes it that Mr Beck’s name was put in the frame? The jury will have to ask themselves whether there was some overzealous reason. Did something untoward happen in the investigation or were people carried away with the belief that he was a monster?”

Mr Black said that in six weeks of prosecution evidence horrific allegations had been made. ”They are, if true, a catalogue of man’s inhumanity to children and man’s inhumanity to other men. It is a litany of disgusting and depraved behaviour. There are not any words to excuse the conduct, which, if it is true, will be rightly condemned by you when you bring your verdict. The allegations are horrific and terrible. Let there be no bones about it.”

However, Mr Black questioned how such abuses could have gone on for so long unnoticed. He said: ”This is a man who had a distinguished career in social services who went from one home to another because they wanted him to. He was widely regarded.”

During his evidence, Mr Beck said councillors and Dorothy Edwards, Leicestershire’s then director of social services, frequently visited homes he ran. Virginia Bottomley, now the Health Minister, had visited once.

Mr Beck, 49, denies 27 charges of physical and sexual abuse against children and former staff members. Two of his former deputies are co-defendants. Peter Jaynes, 42, of Chatham, Kent, denies indecently assaulting a teenage boy and indecently assaulting a girl allegedly raped by Mr Beck. George Lincoln, 39, from Sudbury, Suffolk, denies that he and Mr Beck buggered a 14-year-old boy. The trial continues.

The Guardian(London)

October 30, 1991

Child abuse case officer ‘framed’

BYLINE: By IAN KATZ

LENGTH: 740 words

THE FORMER officer in charge of three Leicestershire children’s homes, alleged to have systematically abused and assaulted children and staff during a 13-year reign of terror, was framed, Leicester crown court was told yesterday.

Opening the defence of Frank Beck, aged 49, John Black said there was a ‘significant and emphatic question mark hanging over this case in relation to the integrity of the police and some of the witnesses’.

He asked the jury to consider how Mr Beck’s name had been put into the frame. ‘You do not have to find that the police or any one policeman behaved in such a disgusting way, but you may like to ask how it came about. Was there some over-zealous or malign reason why people were carried away by the belief he was a monster?’

Mr Black said the allegations against Mr Beck were a litany of disgusting and depraved behaviour. ‘They are, if they are true, a catalogue of man’s inhumanity to children and to other men. If there is anything worse than this, imagine what it is like to be accused of it if it is not true.’

On Monday, after the court had heard six weeks of evidence from 45 witnesses, Mr Beck was acquitted on five of the 29 charges against him.

He and his two former deputies, George Lincoln, 39, of Sudbury, Suffolk, and Peter Jaynes, 41, of Chatham, Kent, had faced a total of 32 charges of abuse and sexual abuse against children aged between eight and 16, and former members of staff. They denied all charges.

Referring to one of the prosecution witnesses whose evidence was ruled unsafe by Mr Justice Jowitt, and two others who cannot be named, Mr Black asked how they could have made allegations which were ‘palpably and physically untrue’.

He urged the jury to question the evidence of former residents who may have had ‘horrible memories’ of hated regression therapy. ‘You will have to consider do they have motives. Have they been encouraged or enticed to give evidence.’

Mr Beck had enjoyed a distinguished career in the social services, he had become a ‘victim of time whose word would have to be assessed against the testimony of other witnesses in the absence of firm evidence’.

The jury would have to ask why former residents who claimed to have been abused later visited Mr Beck voluntarily ‘sometimes with their wives, girlfriends, and children, in some cases years later’.

He said the reign of terror was a nonsense. ‘Could you really accept that nobody would stop Mr Beck when everybody could see what was going on, or is the truth very different from what has been brought before you.’

Giving evidence, Mr Beck denied ever physically or sexually abusing children or staff at the homes where he was officer-in-charge between 1973 and 1986: The Poplars, Market Harborough, and the Ratcliffe Road and Beeches children’s homes in Leicester.

Mr Beck also denied being a homosexual, an MI6 spy, or an interrogator during his nine years of service in the Royal Marines.

After training as a social worker Mr Beck was appointed officer-in-charge of the Poplars in 1973. He said regression therapy, which he had taught while working at a Northampton residential home, was introduced when the unit moved to the Ratcliffe Road home in Leicester.

He said a child’s emotional development was like climbing up a ladder. Some children had rungs missing, and regression therapy worked by going ‘back down the ladder and finding the rungs that were missing and hopefully replacing them’.

Children were regressed to their early childhood by removing their responsibilities; they might be dressed and bathed by staff and given a baby’s bottle. He denied that children were forced to wear nappies.

Asked about an alleged practice of inducing temper tantrums in children, Mr Beck denied that violence or tickling was used to provoke them. ‘We didn’t have to encourage them to have tantrums, 90 per cent were very aggressive and at the drop of a hat would blow. Our only encouragement was that once they’d blown we wouldn’t say ‘stop it’.’

He said many children placed in his care had been abused and often had a history of violence. ‘All the children had worn their parents out so that parents had rejected the child out of sheer helplessness.’

He said it would have been impossible to run the homes with a reign of terror, but admitted losing his temper on occasion: ‘I’m afraid I’m not a saint.’

The case continues today.

The Times

October 31, 1991, Thursday

Home boss says MP abused boy

SECTION: Home news

LENGTH: 195 words

A FORMER children’s home boss yesterday told a court that he counselled a boy in care who had been sexually abused by Greville Janner, the Labour MP for Leicester West. It was alleged that the youngster was sexually assaulted by the MP over a two-year period.

The claim was made by Frank Beck, aged 49, who was giving evidence at Leicester crown court. Beck denies 27 charges of sexual and physical abuse of children and former members of staff over a 13-year period up until 1978.

He said that a lot of youngsters in his care at the Ratcliffe Road children’s home, Leicester, had sexual experience.

”One child has been buggered and abused for two solid years by Greville Janner,” he said.

Kingsley Napley, lawyers for Mr Janner, said in a statement to the Press Association: ”All we can say within the constraints of the Contempt of Court Act is that since the trial is continuing at Leicester crown court the matter is sub judice.

”We have therefore advised Greville Janner that he is prevented from making any statements at this stage.”

Press Association

October 31, 1991, Thursday

‘I WROTE TO MP OVER ABUSED BOY’ – CHILDREN’S HOME CHIEF

SECTION: HOME NEWS

LENGTH: 545 words

A former children’s homes chief broke down in court today as he told how he wrote to Labour MP Greville Janner in an attempt to stop his alleged relationship with an orphan boy in care. Frank Beck, 49, wept as he told how he contacted the Leicester West MP at the House of Commons to try to end his contact with 15-year-old Mr A. “The boy had been abused something chronic and I wasn’t going to have it,” Beck told Leicester Crown Court. Asked by John Black, defending, whether Mr A had ever tried to visit people outside the home, Beck said he had, adding: “I wrote to the person concerned in 1977 or 1978.” Mr Black asked him: “Who was it you wrote to, Mr Beck?” Beck replied: “Greville Janner at the Commons in London.” Mr Black asked: “Why did you write to him ?” Beck, still weeping, said: “I had spent two years putting right the damage that man had done to that boy and he (Janner) had the bloody audacity to complain to me because the boy had been down to London and met him accidentally. I was incensed.” Beck said Mr Janner had written to him after the accidental meeting and the letter had been put on the boy’s social services file. He said Mr A had shown a friend round the House of Commons during a visit “because he knew it very well”. Mr Black asked if he had reported the incident to anyone and Beck replied: “Yes I did, the director of social services, Dorothy Edwards.” Beck, formerly of Braunstone, Leicester, is accused of 27 charges of physical and sexual abuse on children in care and former members of staff. He denies the charges allegedly committed at three children’s homes over a 13-year period up until 1986. Describing how Mr A had been admitted to the Ratcliffe Road children’s home in Leicester that he ran in 1975, Beck said: “He had major sexual problems. He thought he was a girl and behaved in a homosexual manner. “He would basically offer his body to anyone who wanted it.” Asked by Mr Black to describe the boy’s general behaviour, Beck replied: “I suppose ‘sophistication’ would be the right word. “He was used to mixing in top-class company and had picked up many of the good manners and practices from there.” Beck said a man visited the home with a bicycle for the boy. “It was attempted to be delivered,” he said. “The man who delivered it was told it was not appropriate and should be taken away. “I believed it was a bribe and I did not want to encourage the relationship at all with the person concerned.” Asked if he had a homosexual relationship with Paul, Beck replied: “No. I say that very strongly indeed.” He added: “Mr A to my knowledge did not indulge in homosexual activity after he left the home. He is now a happily married man with three children.” Beck said he had kept in touch with Mr A and had attended his marriage and the christening of his first child. Also in the dock are former social workers Peter Jaynes, 42, of Beacon Hill, Chatham, Kent, who is accused of three offences of sexual and physical abuse on children, and George Lincoln, 39, of Carsons Drive, Great Cornard, Sudbury, Suffolk, who is accused jointly with Beck of buggery on a boy. The trial was adjourned until tomorrow when Beck is expected to be cross-examined by prosecutor Peter Joyce.

The Independent (London)

October 31, 1991, Thursday

Man in sex trial accuses Greville Janner of abuse

SECTION: HOME NEWS PAGE; Page 3

LENGTH: 494 words

A MAN named Greville Janner sexually abused a boy in care over a two-year period, the chief of a children’s home told a court yesterday.

Later, Stephen Pollard, of Kingsley Napley, lawyers for Greville Janner, the Labour MP for Leicester West, said in a statement to the Press Association: ”All we can say within the constraints of the Contempt of Court Act is that since the trial is continuing at Leicester Crown Court the matter is sub judice. We have therefore advised Greville Janner that he is prevented from making any statements at this stage.”

Frank Beck made the allegation while giving evidence at Leicester Crown Court, where he is denying 27 charges of sexual and physical abuse of children and former members of staff at children’s homes over a 13-year period up until 1986.

He said many of the youngsters in his care at Ratcliffe Road children’s home in Leicester, had had sexual experiences.

”A number had been abused,” he said. ”A lot of them felt they were responsible for that abuse and suffered a great deal of guilt.

”I only ever got caught up in spontaneous chats with one child where a great deal of sexual activity was discussed. No, I would say two children.”

He added: ”One child had been buggered and abused for two solid years by Greville Janner. That child felt guilty and it was important that it should be talked about so he did not suffer the guilt.”

Mr Beck, 49, said he encouraged children to talk about sexual matters because so many had been abused. He admitted, under questioning from John Black, defending, that he had told children to go and masturbate themselves.

”Two children had been seriously abused – the one I’ve already mentioned, he was abused over two years – and another one who had spent long periods in London,” Mr Beck said. ”It was necessary to discuss with them what they had been through.”

He denied encouraging any boys to behave homosexually, adding: ”I think I did more than most to try and prevent it.”

He had acted angrily when boys at the home were caught together in a homosexual act, he said.

Earlier in the trial a woman who claimed Mr Beck raped and buggered her said she overheard an argument between Mr Beck and a boy resident named as Mr A.

”It was an argument about him going off to see a man called Greville Janner?” Mr Black asked the woman, who is now 31.

She replied: ”He was shouting to Mr A that he wasn’t going to see Greville Janner any more.”

She said Mr A boasted of being a rent boy when he first arrived at the home.

Mr Beck, formerly of Leicester, was close to tears as he denied physically abusing children. He said he had slapped children.

Quoting from a phrase in a report he wrote in the 1970s on control of children in care, Mr Beck said: ”Punishment without love is bitterness, punishment based on fear destroys. I don’t believe anyone has the right to hit anyone unless they love them.”

The case continues.

The Guardian (London)

October 31, 1991

Greville Janner named in court as child abuser

BYLINE: By IAN KATZ

LENGTH: 542 words

A BOY at a children’s home was abused and buggered for ‘two solid years’ by a man named as Greville Janner, the Leicestershire child abuse trial heard yesterday.

Frank Beck, aged 49, the former officer in charge of three homes, who is accused of buggering 11 children during a 13-year ‘reign of terror’, made the allegation during his second day of evidence at Leicester crown court.

Asked by John Black, defending, why he had engaged in conversations about sex with children in the home, he replied: ‘A lot of children had some pretty bad experiences. A number had been abused. A lot felt they were responsible for it.

‘One child had been abused and buggered for two solid years by Greville Janner. That child felt guilty, and it was important that it should be talked about so he did not suffer the guilt.’

Earlier in the trial, a 31-year-old woman who claimed she had been raped and buggered by Mr Beck, told the jury she had overheard Mr Beck and a boy at the home arguing ‘about Greville Janner’. She said Mr Beck forbade the boy, who said he was a rent boy, from visiting Mr Janner.

Greville Janner, QC, aged 63, has been Labour MP for Leicester West since 1974. He was president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews from 1979 to 1985 and is married with three children.

Mr Beck, who was officer in charge at The Poplars, Market Harborough, and the Ratcliffe Road and Beeches children’s homes in Leicester between 1973 and 1986, denies 27 charges of abuse and assault against children aged between 8 and 16 and members of staff.

In the dock with him are two former deputies, Peter Jaynes, aged 42, of Chatham, Kent, who denies indecently assaulting a teenage boy and indecently assaulting and assaulting a girl; and George Lincoln, aged 39, of Sudbury, Suffolk, who denies buggering a 14-year-old boy with Mr Beck.

Mr Beck told the jury that sex was an ‘open subject’ in the homes. Children would be encouraged to talk freely about subjects like masturbation and nudity using ‘behind the shed’ language.

He would, on occasion, tell children to masturbate themselves when their behaviour indicated that they ‘wished to express their sexuality’.

He had discussed sexuality in detail with two children, including the one he said was abused for two years.

Mr Beck denied detailed allegations made by eight former residents of homes where he was in charge. He said he had never met a man called Mr C, whose allegation that he was buggered by Mr Beck was thrown out by Mr Justice Jowitt on Monday.

The jury was shown a photograph of one of the boys, Mr F, which Mr Beck said had been taken shortly after Mr F alleged he assaulted him, causing him two black eyes and a bruised lip. He said the photograph showed no injury. He said a 31-year-old woman’s allegations that she had sexual contact with him while at Ratcliffe Road contained ‘not a single word’ of truth.

The trial continues.

– Last night Stephen Pollard, of Kingsley Napley, lawyers for Mr Janner, said in a statement: ‘Since the trial is continuing at Leicester Crown Court the matter is sub judice. We have therefore advised Greville Janner that he is prevented from making any statements at this stage.’

The Independent (London)

November 1, 1991, Friday

Sex trial man ‘wrote to MP over abused boy’

SECTION: HOME NEWS PAGE; Page 4

LENGTH: 282 words

A FORMER children’s homes chief wept in court yesterday as he told how he wrote to the MP Greville Janner in an attempt to stop his alleged relationship with an orphan boy in care.

Frank Beck, 49, said: ”The boy had been abused something chronic and I wasn’t going to have it.”
He told Leicester Crown Court that the 15-year-old boy, Mr A, had tried to visit people outside the home, adding: ”I wrote to the person concerned in 1977 or 1978.”

Asked by John Black, for the defence, who he had written to, he replied: ”Greville Janner at the Commons in London.”

Mr Black asked: ”Why did you write to him?”

He replied: ”I had spent two years putting right the damage that man had done to that boy and he Mr Janner had the bloody audacity to complain to me because the boy had been down to London and met him accidentally.”

He said Mr Janner had written to him after the accidental meeting and the letter had been put on the boy’s social services file. He said Mr A had shown a friend round the Commons during a visit ”because he knew it very well”.

Mr Beck said he reported the incident to the director of social services, Dorothy Edwards.

Mr Beck, formerly of Braunstone, Leicester, denies 27 charges of physical and sexual abuse of children in care and former members of staff. The charges cover a 13-year period up until 1986.

Also in the dock are two former social workers, Peter Jaynes, 42, of Beacon Hill, Chatham, Kent, who is accused of three offences of sexual and physical abuse of children, and George Lincoln, 39, of Carsons Drive, Great Cornard, Sudbury, Suffolk, who is accused jointly with Mr Beck of buggery.

The trial continues today.

The Guardian (London)

November 1, 1991

Home chief says he wrote to MP about abused boy

BYLINE: By IAN KATZ

LENGTH: 605 words

THE former officer in charge of three Leicestershire children’s homes, who is accused of beating and abusing children and staff, told a jury yesterday how he tried to stop an alleged homosexual affair between a 15-year-old boy and the Labour MP, Greville Janner.

Giving evidence for the third day at Leicester crown court, Frank Beck, aged 49, said he reported the affair to the then director of Leicestershire social services and wrote to Mr Janner.

In tears, Mr Beck told the jury that the boy, an orphan placed in his care at the Ratcliffe Road children’s home, had been ‘abused something chronic’.

He said he had prevented Mr Janner from visiting the boy and ‘stopped the supply of goodies’ to him.

On Wednesday Mr Beck told the jury that an unnamed boy had been abused ‘for two solid years’ by Mr Janner, aged 63, a barrister who is married with three children.

Mr Janner has been MP for Leicester West since 1974 and a Leicester MP since 1970. His lawyers said they had advised him not to comment on the allegations while the Leicestershire abuse trial was in progress.

Mr Beck denies 27 charges of sexual and physical abuse against children, aged betwen eight and 16, and staff, between 1973 and 1986.

He said yesterday that the boy ‘thought he was a girl and behaved in a homosexual manner’ when he was admitted to the Ratcliffe Road home in 1975. ‘He had major sexual problems. He would basically offer his body to anyone who wanted it and would rub his body up against any male person and children.’

Mr Beck said he counselled the boy regularly because of his problems. He had picked up sophisticated mannners from mixing in ‘top class’ company and boasted that he ‘knew somebody who would put

me in my place, if necessary.’

Asked by John Black, defending, how he had stopped the boy getting his own way, Mr Beck replied: ‘I actually stopped the person from coming to see him and stopped the supply of goodies. He had more toys and goodies than I had ever seen.’

On one occasion a man had visited the home with a bicycle for the boy. Mr Beck had prevented him from delivering it because he ‘believed it was a bribe’ and did not want to encourage the relationship with the person.

Asked if he had ever tried to visit people outside the home, Mr Beck said that he had, and added: ‘I wrote to the person concerned in 1977 or 1978.’

Mr Black: ‘Who was it you wrote to, Mr Beck ?’ Mr Beck: ‘Greville Janner at the Commons in London.’

Mr Black: ‘Why did you write to him ?’ Mr Beck: ‘I had spent two years putting right the damage that man had done to that boy and he had the bloody audacity to complain to me because the boy had been down to London and met him accidentally. I was incensed.’

Mr Beck said Mr Janner had written to him after the accidental meeting and the letter had been put on the boy’s social services file.

He said he had also reported the incident to the director of social services, Dorothy Edwards.

Asked if he had a homosexual relationship with the boy, Mr Beck replied: ‘No. I say that very strongly indeed.’

He added: ‘To my knowledge he did not indulge in homosexual activity after he left the home. He is now a happily married man with three children.’

Mr Beck said he had attended his marriage and the christening of his first child.

Also in the dock are former social workers Peter Jaynes, aged 42, of Chatham, Kent, who is accused of three offences of sexual and physical abuse on children, and George Lincoln, aged 39, of Sudbury, Suffolk, who is accused jointly with Mr Beck of buggery on a boy.

The trial continues.

The Guardian(London)

November 2, 1991

Children’s home head denies trying to blackmail MP

LENGTH: 498 words

THE head of three Leicestershire children’s homes yesterday denied attempting to blackmail the Labour MP Greville Janner over his alleged two-year relationship with a teenage boy.

He denied an allegation that he had tried to bring Mr Janner and the boy together in 1989. Mr Beck said he had contacted Mr Janner to inform him ‘that he had failed, and the boy he buggered now had a son’.

He said that ‘Greville Janner phoned me at home and wrote one letter to my knowledge’.

Mr Janner has been MP for Leicester West since 1974 and a Leicester MP since 1970. His lawyers said they have advised him not to comment on the allegations while the Leicestershire abuse trial is in progress.

Mr Beck denies 27 charges of sexual and physical abuse between 1973 and 1986 against children, aged between eight and 16, and against staff.

Earlier in yesterday’s hearing Mr Beck denied persuading one of his co-accused to have homosexual sex with him.

Defence counsel for Peter Jaynes, aged 42, claimed Mr Beck used staff supervision sessions as a cover for buggery while Mr Jaynes was his deputy at a children’s home in the 1970s.

Mr Jaynes denies three charges of physical and sexual abuse against two children in the Ratcliffe Road home in Leicester.

Graham Buchanan, defending Mr Jaynes, said: ‘Jaynes was supervised by you up the stairs and into your bed, wasn’t he?’

Mr Beck replied: ‘That is not true. Peter Jaynes asked me to be the best man at his wedding.’

Mr Buchanan claimed Mr Beck was overbearing, aggressive and violent towards Mr Jaynes and other junior social workers. He said Mr Jaynes was publicly ridiculed by Mr Beck and encouraged to become a homosexual.

Mr Beck said the suggestions were ridiculous. ‘I had no idea about his private life.’

When asked how he did run the homes, he said: ‘It was very democratic. It wasn’t a dictatorship.’

Mr Buchanan, referring to Mr Beck’s service as a Royal Marine, said of the Ratcliffe Road home: ‘It was run like a commando group.’ Mr Beck said: ‘I think you have to be in a commando group to realise how ridiculous that was.’

Mr Beck also denied setting himself up as a ‘petty psychiatrist’ who would sort out the problems of his staff.

Mr Buchanan claimed Mr Jaynes was an ’emotional ruin’ when Mr Beck arrived and naive enough to fall under his control.

Mr Beck said: ‘I’ve never thought about it. He was highly qualified in residential social work.’

Mr Buchanan, reading from a statement made by Mr Beck to police, asked him why, when asked if he was homosexual, he had replied, ‘I don’t think so. I intend to see a psychiatrist.’ ‘

Mr Beck said the remark was ‘partly out of context. I was under quite a shock at the time.’

The trial continues.

The Guardian (London)

November 5, 1991

Police covered up MP’s sex with boy, ex-children’s worker alleges

LENGTH: 299 words

FRANK Beck, the former children’s home chief accused of abusing children and staff, yesterday accused the police of hiding an affair between a 15-year-old boy and the Labour MP, Greville Janner.

Giving evidence in Leicester crown court, Mr Beck, aged 49, claimed the boy, an orphan placed in his care at a Leicester children’s home, had had sex with Mr Janner, a QC and the MP for Leicester West, during an overnight stay at an hotel.

Earlier, Mr Beck claimed Mr Janner had buggered the boy for two years.

He said yesterday he did not include the allegation in his police statement in February this year because ‘it was never my intention to drag Mr Janner into court’.

He claimed police knew about the allegations. ‘The police told me they knew about Janner and they have covered it up as you have,’ Mr Beck told Peter Joyce, QC, prosecuting.

Mr Janner’s lawyers say they have advised him not to comment during the trial. Mr Beck denies 27 charges of physical and sexual abuse on children and former staff, allegedly at three Leicestershire social services children’s homes over 13 years until 1986.

Cross-examined by Mr Joyce, Mr Beck said the boy told him he had stayed with Mr Janner at the Holiday Inn in Leicester.

He admitted he wrote to Mr Janner after the boy had married and become a father.

Two other former social workers are in the dock. Peter Jaynes, aged 42, of Chatham, Kent, denies three charges of sexual and physical abuse of children in care, and George Lincoln, aged 49, of Sudbury, Suffolk, denies one offence.

The trial continues.

The Independent (London)

November 7, 1991, Thursday

Abuse trial statements challenged by expert

SECTION: HOME NEWS PAGEHOME NEWS PAGE; Page 3

LENGTH: 283 words

A LANGUAGE expert told the Leicestershire child abuse trial yesterday that police statements in the prosecution of a social worker were the work of more than one person.

Andrew Morton, of the University of Glasgow, said patterns of language used in some prosecution witness statements against Frank Beck, 49, were inconsistent.

Mr Morton analysed the statements using the ”cusum” technique which he pioneered, and claims can show if a piece of writing is the work of one or more people.

Leicester Crown Court was shown cusum graphs of several statements given to police by former children in care at homes that Mr Beck ran.

Of two statements made by a woman alleging she was raped by Mr Beck when she was a girl, Mr Morton said: ”There is certainly more than one source for this statement. We’re not talking about smudged lipstick, we’re talking about broken ribs. These are fundamental differences. Neither statement is the simple utterance of the woman.”

He claimed the statements of two former boys in care, Mr G and Mr F, also showed ”multiple sources”.

But under cross-examination, Mr Morton agreed the results of his tests were also consistent with a policeman listening to a witness’s account and arranging it in chronological order.

Earlier in the trial, the defence counsel for Mr Beck claimed police officers investigating the case influenced statements given by witnesses.

Mr Beck denies 27 charges of physical and sexual abuse against children and staff members between 1974 and l986. Two former deputies, Peter Jaynes, 42, of Chatham, Kent, and George Lincoln, 39, of Sudbury, Suffolk, deny a total of four charges.

The trial continues today.

The Times

November 9, 1991, Saturday

Former boy in care says Labour MP sexually abused him

BYLINE: By Craig Seton

SECTION: Home news

LENGTH: 539 words

A FORMER boy in care at a children’s home alleged at Leicester crown court yesterday that he had been sexually abused by Greville Janner, Labour MP for Leicester West, during a two-year relationship that began when he was aged 13.

Mr A, now 30, claimed that he had been fondled when he slept with Mr Janner at the MP’s London home after meeting him at the House of Commons, and that later he had been buggered, once in a double bed at a hotel in Mr Janner’s constituency and twice during a lecture tour in Scotland. He also alleged that the MP had had simulated sex with him.

Mr A told the court that he had been given money, toys, clothing and tickets for concerts by the MP during their relationship, and said: ”I had become accustomed to the gifts I was receiving and the expensive restaurants, so I went along with it.”

Mr A, married with three children, was giving defence evidence yesterday for Frank Beck, the former officer in charge of three children’s homes run by Leicestershire social services, at which Mr Beck is alleged to have conducted a reign of terror. Mr Beck, aged 49, has denied 27 charges alleging sexual and physical abuse, including buggery against children and social work staff over a 13-year period. Two other residential social workers have denied a total of four charges.

Mr A claimed in court yesterday that it had been Mr Beck who had ended his relationship with Mr Janner, aged 63. He admitted that he had stolen from Mr Janner and that, since Mr Beck’s arrest, he had spoken to two national newspapers, but he denied that he had tried to sell his story. He claimed that he had regularly slept with Mr Janner in a suite at the Holiday Inn, Leicester, when the MP visited the constituency.

Mr A said that he had been in foster homes and children’s homes all his life. When he was 12 or 13, he had met Mr Janner while he was staying in a children’s home in Wigston, Leicester.

Mr A said he had been a volunteer for a community project that Mr Janner had launched and that he and other children had later been invited to the Commons. After the visit, the MP had seen him again and invited him back to the Commons by himself, arranging train tickets for his journey to London. He said that he and Mr Janner had corresponded regularly and there had been at least one telephone call a week.

Mr A said that he usually met Mr Janner at the Holiday Inn and sometimes stayed overnight in a suite. They would use the hotel swimming pool, sometimes, with the agreement of the management, when it was supposed to be closed. They would be naked when they showered together afterwards and washed each other down.

He said that, during the relationship, he had stolen money from Mr Janner’s wallet. He told the court: ”It was my own way of getting back at him for what he was doing to me.” Mr Janner had found out and had been annoyed and later wrote Mr A a letter asking why he had done it. Mr Janner had warned him that he would stop seeing him if he stole from him again.

Mr A said that, after that, there had been no more sexual incidents because there had been no more overnight stays.

The trial continues on Monday.

The Independent (London)

November 9, 1991, Saturday

Man tells of sex sessions with MP while in care

BYLINE: By JACK O’SULLIVAN

SECTION: HOME NEWS PAGE; Page 3

LENGTH: 526 words

A FORMER child in council care testified yesterday that Greville Janner QC, the Labour MP for Leicester West, buggered and sexually assaulted him for two years until he was 15.

Mr A, now 30, told Leicester Crown Court that he was buggered twice by Mr Janner, while travelling alone with him on a two-week lecture tour in Scotland.

He also described spending weekends with Mr Janner, 63, arranged by a social worker, during which he was sexually abused at the MP’s London home and in a bedroom at the Holiday Inn Hotel, Leicester. He told the court that he was sent letters signed ”Love, Greville”.

Mr A detailed swimming sessions which took place alone with the MP in the hotel pool when it was closed to the public. ”I was fondled in my private area. It seemed at first like a bit of fun, being thrown around in the water, but he would hold me close.”

He was giving evidence during the trial of Frank Beck, 49, of Braunstone, Leicester, who denies 27 charges of physically and sexually abusing children and members of staff at three Leicestershire children’s homes he ran between 1973 and 1986.

Mr A told the court that Mr Beck had stopped his relationship with Mr Janner when he moved, aged 15, to the Ratcliffe Road home, run by Mr Beck, who also blocked Mr Janner’s letters. Mr A said that he had been infuriated when Mr Beck returned a Christmas present of a 10-speed racing bicycle the MP sent to him.

Earlier in the trial, Mr Beck, 49, said he reported the alleged relationship between Mr Janner and Mr A to Dorothy Edwards, the then Director of Social Services for Leicestershire.

Mr A told the court that he was 13 when he first met Mr Janner, who has been an MP since 1970, during a school visit to the House of Commons.

Subsequently, Barbara Fitt, then Officer-in-Charge of Station Road children’s home, Wigston, Leicester, arranged weekly trips for Mr A to the MP’s London home and to the Holiday Inn where Mr Janner, who is married with three children, often stayed.

However, Mr A accepted under cross-examination that Mrs Fitt did not in fact take over the home until four months before he left it and could not therefore have arranged the first visits.

He described one weekend when he went alone to London and spent the evening at Mr Janner’s home, during which he spent time in bed with the MP. After that there were regular weekly meetings.

However, Mr A said that his own behaviour deteriorated. He had sex at the home with both boys and girls and ran away frequently. Eventually he moved to Ratcliffe Road home.

Under cross-examination he confirmed he had named Mr Janner after the MP had refused his request to help Mr Beck, when abuse charges were first brought last year. Two of Mr Beck’s former colleagues; Peter Jaymes, 42, of Chatham, Kent and George Lincoln, 39, of Sudbury, Suffolk, deny four related charges.

Later Mr Janner’s solicitor, Sir David Napley, said he could not comment on the allegations made in court as the matter was sub judice. But a statement made before the start of the trial denied all the accusations made by Mr Beck.

A MAN who was in care as a boy told a jury yesterday how he was sexually abused by Greville Janner, QC, the Labour MP for Leicester West.

Mr A, aged 30, was called as a witness by Frank Beck, aged 49, formerly of Braunstone, Leicester, who denies 27 charges of sexually and physically abusing children in care and former staff members at Leicester children’s homes in a 13-year period until 1986.

Mr Beck has claimed he rescued Mr A from sexual abuse by Mr Janner and prevented further contact.

Earlier, Mr A said Mr Beck put him on the right path as a teenager. He claimed he counselled him over his relationship with the MP, and stopped him seeing him. He also said Mr Beck returned a bicycle the MP sent him for Christmas and intercepted his letters.

Mr A, now a married father, told the jury at Leicester crown court that he was 13 years old when he slept with Mr Janner at his London home.

The trial had heard earlier claims Mr Janner had been Mr A’s ‘befriender’ – someone who took children outafter vetting by social workers.

Mr A said he was invited by Mr Janner for a weekend stay and during the evening was alone in a bedroom. He said the MP came in to reassure him as he was crying, then came back and said ‘if I was that upset I could sleep with him. We ended up in his bed together and he cuddled me . . . Eventually we lay beside each other. We cuddled and fondled together. I didn’t like it and told him to stop it.’

He said he was in care at the Station Road children’s home in Leicester when he was recruited, with others, by the MP to tidy up an estate. On a school trip to the House of Commons they were met by Mr Janner. Afterwards, Mr A said Mr Janner went to his school and he accepted an invitation to visit the Commons.

He claimed he was again invited to London where the alleged fondling took place.

He claimed he saw Mr Janner regularly when he was in Leicester on constituency work. He would stay in his hotel, sleeping in his bed. He also claimed he was once fondled by Mr Janner in the hotel’s pool.

John Black, counsel for Mr Beck, asked what happened when they were in bed. Mr A replied: ‘Petting and fondling.’ Asked if it ever went further than that, he said Mr Janner ‘simulated sex’ with him ‘five or six times throughout the period I knew him’.

Asked if it ever went further at Mr Janner’s hotel, he replied: ‘Only on one occasion. I cried and tried to push away from him.’ Mr A said he was 13 1/2 when this occurred. He said the MP bought him toys, clothes and concert tickets.

He later told the jury that during their alleged two-year relationship – when he said he saw the MP ‘most weekends and sometimes during the week’ – he accompanied Mr Janner on a two-week lecture tour of Scotland, when they stayed in hotel rooms together. He said he was twice buggered by the MP on the tour. Asked if he liked what happened, he said: ‘No, I did not, and I tried to stop it.’ He said he stole money from the MP’s wallet, as ‘my way of getting back at him’.

After returning to the children’s home he said Mr Janner rang the head of the home, Barbara Fitt, who then handed him the receiver. He said the MP told him he would give him ‘another chance’, to which he agreed. But their contact became less frequent, and there was no further alleged abuse.

On trial with Mr Beck are Peter Jaynes, aged 42, of Chatham, Kent, who denies three charges and George Lincoln, aged 39, of Sudbury, Suffolk, who denies one charge. Both are former Leicestershire residential social workers

Mr Janner, aged 63, married for 36 years with three children, has been a Leicester MP since 1970.

The trial continues.

The Times

November 12, 1991, Tuesday

MP ‘sent letter to boy, 13’

SECTION: Home news

LENGTH: 236 words

GREVILLE Janner, the Labour MP, sent a 13-year-old boy a letter after they allegedly slept together, a child sex abuse trial at Leicester crown court was told yesterday.

The letter, signed ”Safe journey, Love Greville” and dated July 7, 1975, was produced in court while Mr A, now aged 30, was giving evidence.

Mr A said that he had kept other letters from the 63-year-old MP during their affair, which had lasted for two years.

Mr A told the court that he was sexually abused by Mr Janner, a QC, while in the care of social services. He claimed that sex acts took place at Mr Janner’s London home and at hotels.

He was giving evidence on behalf of Frank Beck, aged 49, a former head of children’s homes, who has denied 27 charges of physical and sexual abuse of children and former members of staff. Mr A said that he was never ill-treated by Mr Beck and that he was transferred to a home run by him after the alleged abuse by Mr Janner.

Asked why he had written to Mr Janner after Mr Beck’s arrest, he replied: ”I believe Mr Beck to be innocent and should not be treated in the way he is being treated, and Mr Janner may have been able to help him in some way.”

Also in the dock are Mr Beck’s former deputy, Peter Jaynes, aged 42, who denies three offences involving children, and George Lincoln, aged 39, who denies one charge.

The trial continues today.

Press Association

November 12, 1991, Tuesday

NO SEX ABUSE AT CHILDREN’S HOME, COURT TOLD

SECTION: HOME NEWS

LENGTH: 240 words

A former child care worker told a court today he never saw any youngsters being sexually abused during the six years he worked at a children’s home. Richard Loweth was giving evidence at the trial of three former residential social workers accused of abusing children in care. It is alleged that The Beeches, in Leicester, was one of three Leicestershire homes where the abuse took place during a 13-year period up until 1986. But Mr Loweth, now a registered firearms dealer, told Leicester Crown Court there was never even a hint of sexual abuse of children by any member of staff during the time he worked there. One of the accused is former children’s homes chief Frank Beck, 49. He allegedly abused children while officer in charge at three homes including The Beeches. Asked by Mr John Black, defending Beck, if there had been any sexual abuse, Mr Loweth replied: “No, and I would go further than that. I didn’t hear, see nor gain information, neither was it ever suggested or spoken of any sexual abuse of children by staff at the home.” Beck, formerly of Braunstone, Leicester, denies 27 charges of physical and sexual abuse of children and former members of staff. Beck’s former deputy, Peter Jaynes, 42, of Chatham, Kent, denies three offences of sexual and physical abuse of children. George Lincoln, 39, another deputy, of Sudbury in Suffolk, denies one offence of a serious sexual nature on a former boy in care.

The Independent (London)

November 12, 1991, Tuesday

Witness in abuse trial ‘kept letters from MP’

SECTION: HOME NEWS PAGE; Page 4

LENGTH: 253 words

THE LABOUR MP Greville Janner sent a 13-year-old boy a letter after they allegedly slept together, the Leicestershire child sex abuse trial was told yesterday.

The letter – signed ”Safe journey, Love Greville” and dated 7 July 1975 – was produced in court when Mr A, now 30, was giving evidence.

Mr A said he had kept other letters from the 63-year-old MP for Leicester West during their two-year affair.

Leicester Crown Court was told by Mr A that he was sexually abused by Mr Janner, a QC, over a two-year period while he was in the care of social services.

Mr A said he twice stayed at Mr Janner’s home in London, and that various sexual acts took place there and at hotels around the country.

He was giving evidence on behalf of former children’s homes chief Frank Beck, 49, who has denied 27 charges of physical and sexual abuse on children and former members of staff.

Mr A, who was transferred to a home run by Mr Beck after the alleged abuse by Mr Janner, said he was never ill- treated by Mr Beck.

He was asked why he had written to Mr Janner after Mr Beck’s arrest for a reference for the defendant.

He replied: ”I believe Mr Beck to be innocent and should not be treated in the way he is being treated and Mr Janner may have been able to help him in some way.”

Also accused are Mr Beck’s former deputy Peter Jaynes, 42, who denies three offences involving children, and George Lincoln, 39, who denies one charge.

The trial was adjourned until today.

The Guardian (London)

November 12, 1991

‘Janner letter’ in court

LENGTH: 323 words

A LETTER said to have been written by Greville Janner to a 13-year-old orphan boy in care after they allegedly slept together at the Labour MP’s home was produced at Leicester crown court yesterday.

The letter was signed ‘safe journey, love Greville’ and dated 3am, July 7, 1975, the court was told.

Mr A, now aged 30, was giving evidence at the trial of Frank Beck, 49, who denies 27 charges of physical and sexual abuse of children and former members of the staff when running children’s homes in Leicestershire.

Mr Beck’s counsel, John Black, had handed the letter to the court.

Mr A alleges he was sexually abused by 63-year-old Mr Janner, a QC, over a two-year period while in care of social services.

He said he twice stayed at Mr Janner’s London home and claimed sex acts took place there and at hotels around the country.

Last Friday Mr A had suggested there was only one stay at Mr Janner’s home.

‘I was very nervous and upset at having to appear (in court) and may have got one visit mixed up with another as I had visited the home more than once,’ he said.

Mr A also claimed he was nervous when he made a statement to police about Mr Janner.

In the statement he did not allege buggery but told the court last Friday that intercourse, as well as simulated and oral sex, took place.

He claimed he told police of the buggery allegations in a later statement.

Mr A, who said he had kept other letters from the MP,

told the court he was transferred to a home run by Mr Beck after the alleged abuse by Mr Janner.

He said he was never ill-treated by Mr Beck.

When asked why he had written to Mr Janner after Mr Beck’s arrest for a reference for the defendant he replied: ‘I believe Mr Beck to be innocent and should not be treated in the way he is being treated and Mr Janner may have been able to help him in some way.’

The case continues.

The Guardian (London)

November 15, 1991

Social worker ‘ashamed’ of his care conduct in children’s homes

LENGTH: 234 words

A SOCIAL worker accused of child abuse said yesterday he was ‘thoroughly ashamed’ of his conduct in children’s homes in the 1970s.

Peter Jaynes, aged 42, told Leicester crown court he had become involved in cruelty to youngsters in care under the influence of his boss, Frank Beck.

Mr Beck, aged 49, denies 27 charges of physical and sexual abuse over a 13-year period when he was head of three Leicestershire children’s homes.

Mr Jaynes – Mr Beck’s deputy at two homes between 1973 and 1978 – told the jury that Mr Beck’s philosophy was to ‘break children before caring for them’.

He denies two charges of indecent assault against a boy and a girl and one of assaulting the same girl causing her actual bodily harm.

Mr Jaynes earlier gave evidence about so-called regression therapy which was used at the Leicestershire homes. It has been alleged during the trial the therapy was the guise behind which sexual abuse of children took place.

He said Mr Beck was the co-ordinator of the therapy and everybody else learned from him. Children were provoked, he said, by ‘aggravated tickling’, blowing in the child’s ears, calling them names and discussing their family. He had taken part in this.

‘I thought at the time and for my own part I was doing good,’ he said. Some children had responded to the therapy and ‘appeared to function better’.

The trial continues.

The Independent (London)

November 16, 1991, Saturday

Abuse claims against MP ‘a red herring’

SECTION: HOME NEWS PAGE; Page 4

LENGTH: 236 words

(First Edition)

ALLEGATIONS against an MP made in a child sex abuse trial were a red herring and should be ignored, a jury was told yesterday.

Peter Joyce QC, for the prosecution, said claims that Greville Janner, MP for Leicester West, sexually abused a boy were to ”divert attention” from Frank Beck, 49.
During the trial Mr A, a witness, claimed he was buggered and molested by Mr Janner as a boy until Mr Beck stopped it.

At Leicester Crown Court, Mr Beck denies 27 charges of physical and sexual abuse over 13 years when he ran three children’s homes in Leicestershire.

Mr Joyce, in his closing speech to the jury, said: ”It is put forward as a great pretence that Mr Beck was the great protector.”

He said the allegation against the MP had been ”blurted out” in commital proceedings by Mr Beck, but an earlier statement by Mr A had made no reference to it. ”Why did he Mr A get in touch with the News of the World and The Sun?” he asked. ”You know why and he knows why.”

Mr Joyce claimed the theory that Mr Beck had been the victim of a huge conspiracy had been ”blown into oblivion” by the evidence. Any conspiracy would have had to involve not just the police but former children and staff.

Two of Mr Beck’s former deputies, Peter Jaynes, 42, of Chatham, Kent, and George Lincoln, of Sudbury, Suffolk, deny a total of four charges.

The trial continues on Monday.

The Guardian (London)

November 16, 1991

Abuse claim against MP ‘red herring’

LENGTH: 399 words

CLAIMS that the Labour MP, Greville Janner, sexually abused a boy were a red herring and should be ignored, a jury at Leicester crown court was told yesterday.

Peter Joyce QC, prosecuting, said the allegations were to ‘divert attention’ from Frank Beck, aged 49. A witness, Mr A, now aged 30, has claimed he was buggered and molested by the MP for Leicester West as a boy until Mr Beck stopped it.

Mr Beck denies 27 charges of physical and sexual abuse over a 13-year period when he ran three children’s homes in Leicestershire. Two of his former deputies, Peter Jaynes, aged 42, of Chatham, Kent, and George Lincoln, of Sudbury, Suffolk, deny a total of four charges.

Mr Joyce said the allegation against Mr Janner was meaningless.

‘It is put forward as a great pretence that Mr Beck was the great protector,’ he said in his closing speech to the jury.

Labelling the allegations the ‘great Janner diversion’ Mr Joyce added: ‘Greville Janner is not on trial here. The prosecution are not here to defend Greville Janner.’

The allegation had been ‘blurted out’ in commital proceedings by Mr Beck. An earlier statement by Mr A had made no reference to any abuse by the MP.

The theory that Mr Beck had been the victim of a huge conspiracy had been ‘blown into oblivion’ by the evidence.

‘It does not exist.

‘Mr Beck had to invent some reason for all those people saying all this against him, and it’s pathetic.’ Mr Joyce said any conspiracy would have had to involve not just the police but former children and staff as well.

Leicestershire social services were not on trial, Mr Joyce told the jury, ‘even if you have concluded the way they ran things in the 1970s and 1980s was an outrage.’

He accused Beck of shedding ‘tearless tears’ in the witness box and claimed his evidence was ‘nonsense, hypocrisy and absurdity’.

He asked the jury: ‘Did Beck try and trick you, con you, in the way he succeeded with social services to employ him in a very sensitive position after coming out of the Marines?

‘After listening to him you might find him the best witness for the prosecution of the lot.’

Mr Joyce said that many of the children had returned to Mr Beck even after abuse because they had nobody else to go to.

‘It’s rather like the puppy that is kicked crawling back to the master that feeds it.’

The trial continues.

The Guardian (London)

November 19, 1991

MP’s letter to boy ‘extraordinary’

LENGTH: 309 words

ALLEGATIONS that an MP sexually abused a boy are a powerful piece of evidence in the trial of a former head of children’s homes, a jury at Leicester crown court was told yesterday.

John Black, summing up the defence case for Frank Beck, aged 49, said: ‘When it came to the crunch, Mr Beck did not abuse children. He stopped the abuse of children.’

Mr Beck denies 27 charges of physical and sexual abuse over 13 years when he ran three Leicestershire children’s homes. During the trial, the defence claimed that he put a stop to two years of abuse of a former boy in care, Mr A, now aged 30, by Greville Janner, the Labour MP for Leicester West.

Mr Black said of the evidence given by Mr A: ‘It is to try and help you decide where the truth lies about Mr Beck. Did he (Mr A) know Mr Janner? Did he visit Mr Janner’s house in London? Have you any doubts? He described Mr Janner’s house. He described the circumstances. He described a meeting.’

Mr Black said the jury had been shown an ‘extraordinary letter’ written by the MP to Mr A: ‘I did not read that letter in open court. You have seen it, you have the opportunity to read it.’

Two other witnesses had referred to the alleged abuse apart from Mr Beck and Mr A, said Mr Black.

‘It is a powerful piece of evidence in this case. If Mr Beck really did put a stop to that relationship, he was doing no more than his duty as officer in charge of that home.’

Mr Black claimed the evidence of the former director of social services, Dorothy Edwards, proved there was no ‘reign of terror’ at the Ratcliffe Road children’s home in the 1970s, as the prosecution alleged.

Two of Mr Beck’s former deputies, George Lincoln, 39, of Sudbury, Suffolk, and Peter Jaynes, 42, of Chatham, Kent, deny a total of four charges. The trial continues.

The Independent (London)

November 20, 1991, Wednesday

Abuse trial

SECTION: HOME NEWS PAGE; Page 6

LENGTH: 45 words

The judge in the trial of Frank Beck, 49, and two other social workers accused of abusing children in Leicestershire children’s homes began his summing up at Leicester Crown Court. Mr Justice Jowitt told the jurors to view the evidence coolly and dispassionately.

The Times

November 26, 1991, Tuesday

Jury retires

SECTION: Home news

LENGTH: 62 words
The jury has retired to consider its verdicts in the trial of a former head of three Leicestershire children’s homes and two residential social workers at Leicester crown court.

Frank Beck, aged 49, has denied 27 charges of sexual and physical abuse of children in care and social workers. Peter Jaynes, aged 42, and George Lincoln, aged 39, have denied other charges.

The Guardian (London)

November 26, 1991

Child abuse trial jury out

LENGTH: 74 words

The jury in the trial of three former Leicestershire social workers accused of abusing children in care retired to a hotel last night having failed to reach verdicts after more than six hours of deliberation.

Frank Beck, aged 49, denies 27 charges of physical and sexual abuse of children and former colleagues between 1974 and 1986. Peter Jaynes, aged 42, denies three offences, and George Lincoln, aged 39, denies one offence.

Press Association

November 26, 1991, Tuesday

FOUR GUILTY VERDICTS ON EX-CHILDREN’S HOME CHIEF

BYLINE: Moira Whittle and John Crossland, Press Association

SECTION: HOME NEWS

LENGTH: 261 words

The former head of three children’s homes was today found guilty of sexually and physically abusing youngsters in his care. Frank Beck, 49, formerly of Braunstone, Leicester, was convicted on two charges of buggery, one of attempted buggery and one of actual bodily harm. He was cleared at Leicester Crown Court on one count of buggery, one of indecent assault and one of actual bodily harm. The jury was spending its second night at a hotel while it considered the remaining 20 charges against Beck. It is alleged he physically and sexually abused youngsters during a 13-year “reign of terror” at three Leicestershire children’s homes. The prosecution said when the trial opened in September that children at the homes Beck ran in Ratcliffe Road and The Beeches, Leicester, and The Poplars in Market Harborough were trapped in “places of darkness”. Peter Joyce QC, prosecuting, said: “There was no ray of light for those children. There was no escape for them.” Beck’s deputy, Peter Jaynes, 42, of Chatham, Kent, was also found guilty of one charge of indecent assault on a boy and one of causing actual bodily harm to a girl while they were in care. He is also charged with another indecent assault. Social worker and former policeman George Lincoln, 39, of Sudbury, Suffolk, faces one charge of buggery which the jury is still considering.

The jury later found Jaynes guilty of one charge of indecent assault against a boy and one charge of actual bodily harm against a girl. Beck was also found guilty of a charge of attempted buggery on a boy.

The Times

November 27, 1991, Wednesday

Children’s home head guilty of sexual abuse

BYLINE: By Craig Seton

SECTION: Home news

LENGTH: 540 words

A FORMER senior social worker accused of running ”a reign of terror” at three council-run children’s homes was yesterday found guilty at Leicester crown court of sexually abusing three boys in his care and physically assaulting one.

Frank Beck, aged 49, who was officer in charge of residential homes run by the social services department of Leicester county council between 1973 and 1986, was acquitted by the jury of three further counts of alleged sex abuse, indecent assault and causing actual bodily harm to children formerly in his care.

The four guilty verdicts came after the jury had been deliberating for almost two days. The trial of Beck and two co-defendants is in its 11th week.

Peter Jaynes, aged 41, of Chatham, Kent, Beck’s former deputy during part of the 13-year period during which offences were alleged to have been committed, was found guilty of one charge of indecent assault on a boy and one of causing actual bodily harm to a girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons. Jaynes was also found guilty of causing actual bodily harm to a girl. The jury still has to return a verdict on one other charge of indecent assault on the girl.

George Lincoln, aged 38, a former residential social worker, of Sudbury, Suffolk, faces a joint charge with Beck of serious sexual assault.

The jury has still to return its verdict on a further 20 charges against Beck, a former Royal Marine. Eight of the charges relate to allegations of serious sexual assault, six to indecent assault, three to grievous bodily harm, and one to rape. The alleged victims were children in care and two social workers.

The jury retired to consider its verdicts on Monday. It will resume deliberations today after a second night in an hotel. Beck has denied all the charges. Earlier, he was found not guilty of five charges on the directions of Mr Justice Jowitt.

The prosecution has alleged that Beck sexually and physically abused children as young as eight at the three homes in Leicester and Market Harborough. Beck, in his defence, alleged that Greville Janner, the Labour MP for Leicester West, had sexually abused a boy in care. During the trial Mr Janner’s solicitor issued a statement in which he said that he had informed the MP that the proceedings were sub judice and that he should not comment at that this stage.

Beck was found guilty of seriously sexually assaulting Mr G while the teenager was in care during the 1970s at the Ratcliffe Road Home in Leicester. Beck was also convicted of causing actual bodily harm to Mr G, now aged 29. Mr G had told the court that he went into care when he was only ten because his mother could not cope. Mr G said he had been taken by Beck to his private quarters, stripped and sexually abused. He also said that he had been physically assaulted after failing to work out a calculation for a rabbit hutch design.

Beck was further convicted of indecently assaulting another boy, Mr H, now aged 32 and married.

The former head was also found guilty of attempting to indecently assault Mr J when he was a teenager. Mr J alleged during the trial that Beck had abused him in his room at a care home.

The trial continues today.

The Independent (London)

November 27, 1991, Wednesday

Beck found guilty of sexual abuse of children in care

BYLINE: By JACK O’SULLIVAN

SECTION: HOME NEWS PAGE; Page 2

LENGTH: 566 words

A SOCIAL worker accused of a 13-year ”reign of terror” at three Leicestershire children’s homes was yesterday convicted of sexually and physically abusing children in his care.

Frank Beck, 49, formerly of Braunstone, Leicester, who ran the homes between 1973 and 1986, was convicted of buggering and assaulting a 13-year-old boy and of buggering a 16-year-old boy. Both were in his care at Ratcliffe Road children’s home, Leicester.

He was also found guilty of attempting to bugger a 14-year-old boy at the same home, where he was officer in charge for three years from 1975.

Peter Jaynes, 42, of Chatham, Kent, Beck’s deputy at the home, was convicted of indecently assaulting a teenage boy and assaulting a 15-year-old girl at Ratcliffe Road. He faces a separate charge of indecently assaulting her.

The jury has still to decide on a further 20 charges against Beck, including nine of buggering children and one of raping a 15-year- old girl. Jurors will continue their deliberations on those charges today, after a spending a second night in a hotel. Beck has denied all the charges. He was cleared of assaulting and sexually assaulting Mr B, now 26, when he was 10 or 11 at Ratcliffe Road, and of additionally buggering the 16- year-old boy without consent.

Mr G, now 29, from Blackpool, had told the jury how, when he was 13, Beck held him down and buggered him after he had been taken to Beck’s quarters at Ratcliffe Road. Mr G, who was in court to hear the two guilty verdicts in relation to his allegations, had said he had felt scared and ashamed, and had told no one about the incident. He had also described how, late one night, Beck had dragged him out of bed, stripped him, shaken, punched and slapped him, leaving his nose damaged and bleeding.

Mr H, now 32, had told the jury how, as a 16-year-old on a visit to Ratcliffe Road, Beck had taken him to private quarters, stripped and buggered him. He said he still suffered nervous disorders and in 1986 had consulted a clinical psychologist. ”Over a period of time, it became clear to me that the events in the home were the reason why I was there. It was hidden, deeply hidden. I had to be hypnotised to get it out,” he told the court.

Mr J had said that when he was 14, Beck took him to his room after suggesting the boy was ”feeling randy”. Beck had tried unsuccessfully to bugger him after pushing him to the floor, he said.

A 31-year-old woman attacked by Jaynes as a 15-year old had described how she was grabbed, kicked, hit and had knuckles rubbed into her ribs by Jaynes. She said Jaynes had said her mother and father did not want her because she was a lesbian and a bastard.

The defence alleged that Beck had been framed and questioned the integrity of the police and witnesses. Counsel suggested that witnesses had been enticed with the promise of payments from the Criminal Injuries Compensation Board. Beck told the court that the police were trying to cover up alleged sexual abuse of a teenage boy in council care in the mid- 1970s by Greville Janner, Labour MP for Leicester West. Beck said that he had put a stop to the alleged abuse, so proving the falseness of the charges he himself faced.

The Guardian (London)

November 27, 1991

Head of home guilty of abuse

BYLINE: By IAN KATZ

LENGTH: 304 words

THE former head of three Leicestershire children’s homes and his deputy were yesterday found guilty of six charges of sexual and physical abuse against children in their care.

Returning six unanimous verdicts after 11 hours of deliberation at Leicester crown court, the jury found Frank Beck, the former officer in charge of the homes between 1973 and 1986, guilty of buggering two boys and assaulting one of them causing actual bodily harm.

The jury later unanimously convicted Mr Beck, aged 49, of attempting to bugger another boy and his former deputy, Peter Jaynes, aged 42, of assaulting a girl causing her actual bodily harm.

Mr Jaynes was also found guilty of indecently assaulting a boy by a majority verdict.

The jury unanimously cleared Mr Beck of an alternative buggery charge as well as charges of indecent assault and assault causing actual bodily harm.

Members of the jury were last night spending a second night in a hotel to consider a further 18 charges.

Mr Beck had been said to have presided over a 13-year ‘reign of terror’ in the homes, The Beeches and Ratcliffe Road in Leicester and The Poplars in nearby Market Harborough.

Mr Beck denied 32 charges involving 14 children and four former social workers. Last month Mr Justice Jowitt ruled that evidence on three charges of buggery and two charges of assault was unsafe.

During the trial, a former resident of one of Mr Beck’s homes alleged he had been regularly abused by a Labour MP, Greville Janner.

Mr Janner is to issue a statement on the allegations after sentence has been passed.

Mr Jaynes, of Chatham, Kent, pleaded not guilty to two charges of indecent assault and one of causing actual bodily harm, and George Lincoln, aged 39, of Sudbury, Suffolk, denies one joint charge with Mr Beck of buggery.

A third defendant, George Lincoln, 39, of Sudbury, Suffolk, who was Beck’s deputy at the Beeches home, denies one charge of buggering a 14-year-old boy with Beck.

The Times

November 28, 1991, Thursday

Social worker raped teenager

BYLINE: By Craig Seton

SECTION: Home news

LENGTH: 342 words

FRANK Beck, the former Leicestershire social worker convicted of sexually and physically abusing boys in his care, was yesterday found guilty of raping a teenage girl and abusing two other boys.

A jury convicted him on a majority verdict of raping the girl, now a woman in her 30s, at the Ratcliffe Road children’s home in Leicester. He was also convicted on a unanimous verdict of buggering her.

Beck, aged 49, a former Royal Marine, was in charge of three children’s homes for 13 years until 1986. The prosecution has alleged that he conducted a reign of terror involving abuse of children and social workers. The homes were run by Leicestershire social services in Leicester and Market Harborough.

The woman told Leicester crown court earlier in the proceedings that she faked symptoms and had her appendix unnecessarily removed to escape sex abuse at the home. She said that Beck had repeatedly raped her and threatened to have her committed to a psychiatric unit if she did not comply.

Beck was also convicted yesterday of indecently assaulting Mr I, now aged 30, and of buggering Mr F, now aged 29. He was cleared of causing Mr F actual bodil harm.

The four convictions, on the third day of the jury’s deliberations in a trial that started 11 weeks ago, bring to eight the total number of convictions against Beck for sexual and physical assaults. The jury has still to return verdicts on a further 15 charges against him, including indecent assault, buggery, attempted buggery and actual bodily harm. He has denied all the charges.

The jury yesterday acquitted Peter Jaynes, aged 41, Beck’s former deputy, of indecently assaulting a girl. On Tuesday, Jaynes, of Chatham, Kent, was found guilty of indecently assaulting Mr I and causing actual bodily harm to a girl. He had denied the charges.

The jury has still to return a verdict on a joint charge of buggery against Beck and George Lincoln, aged 39, a former residential social worker of Sudbury, Suffolk, who has has denied the charge.

Press Association

November 28, 1991, Thursday

MP WITHDRAWS DEBATE ON CONTEMPT LAW

SECTION: PARLIMENTARY NEWS

LENGTH: 97 words

Labour’s Greville Janner, who has been mentioned in the sex abuse case at Leicester Crown Court involving Frank Beck, the former head of three children’s homes, tonight withdrew his proposed short debate in the Commons on the contempt of court law. Mr Janner (Leicester W) told the Press Association: “I have withdrawn it because the case is not over. “I hope that it will be possible for me to make my statement as soon as possible in the House of Commons, which will probably be next week.” The debate was due to have taken place on the adjournment of the House tonight.

Press Association

November 28, 1991, Thursday

JURY OUT FOR FOURTH NIGHT IN SEX ABUSE CASE

BYLINE: Moira Whittle, Press Association

SECTION: HOME NEWS

LENGTH: 231 words

A former head of three children’s homes was today found guilty of five further charges of sexual and physical abuse of children in his care. Frank Beck, 49, formerly of Braunstone, Leicestershire, was convicted at Leicester Crown Court on one charge of buggery, two of indecent assault and two of actual bodily harm. He was also cleared of two further buggery charges. The jury has now returned to a hotel for the fourth night to consider remaining charges against him. So far Beck has been found guilty of one rape, five counts of buggery, one count of attempted buggery, three counts of ABH and three indecent assaults. He has been cleared of four charges. It is alleged he physically and sexually abused youngsters during a 13 year “reign of terror” between 1973 and 1986 at three Leicestershire children’s homes. The prosecution said the children’s homes involved – Ratcliffe Road, and The Beeches, Leicester and The Poplars, Market Harborough, were “places of starkness”. Beck’s deputy, Peter Jaynes, 42, of Beacon Hill, Chatham, Kent, has been convicted on one count of indecent assault and one of actual bodily harm. He has been cleared of one charge of indecent assault. Social worker and former policeman, George Lincoln, 39, of Great Cornard, Sudbury, Suffolk, also faces one charge of buggery which the jury are still considering. The trial is in its 11th week.

The Independent (London)

November 28, 1991, Thursday

Children’s homes head convicted of raping girl in care

BYLINE: By JACK O’SULLIVAN

SECTION: HOME NEWS PAGE; Page 2

LENGTH: 578 words

THE FORMER head of three Leicestershire children’s homes was convicted yesterday of raping and buggering a 15-year-old girl in his care.

The victim, now 31, said she was raped so often by Frank Beck, who ran the homes, that she felt like a machine. She said that after being repeatedly raped by Beck she had faked pains in her side and had deliberately undergone an unnecessary operation to remove her appendix in an attempt to escape sexual abuse.

Beck, 49, formerly of Braunstone, Leicester, gasped ”no” as the jury at Leicester Crown Court returned a 10-2 majority verdict on the rape charge.

Between 1973 and 1986, Beck was officer-in-charge of the Poplars, Market Harborough; the Ratcliffe Road children’s home, Leicester; and the Beeches, Leicester Forest East.

The offences occurred at Ratcliffe Road home, where Beck was officer-in-charge for three years from 1975. The woman had told the court that Beck raped and buggered her after she disturbed Beck and Mr F, who at the time was 13, during homosexual activity.

She said that Beck sent her to her room and followed on. ”He went on about my sexuality. He said I needed a man and he was going to show me what I’d been missing.

”He buggered me. I was screaming. He was hurting me and he didn’t care. I was on my knees bent over the settee. Frank Beck had his hand on my neck. He was holding my front and waist. I thought he was going to kill me.”

Then Beck raped her, the woman told the court. She said that Beck had sex with her about 30 times while she was resident at Ratcliffe Road. She had been taken into care at the age of four, having been sent to the home from the Towers hospital, a local psychiatric unit.

Beck was also found guilty of buggering Mr F, now 29, who said he was turned into a homosexual by repeated abuse. He was also convicted of sexually assaulting a 14-year-old boy after waking up the child.

Mr F, a serving prisoner, had told the court that he had been buggered by Beck and subsequently went to London where he occasionally had sex with men for money. Mr F said: ”If you had put a girl in front of me, I wouldn’t have known what to do. It was the way I was brought up by Beck. I thought it was right and I knew no different.”

Beck was acquitted of assaulting Mr F, but convicted of sexually assaulting Mr I, who told the court that he complained to police 15 years ago about sexual abuse at the Ratcliffe Road home.

Mr I, now 30, who gave evidence from behind a screen, said that Beck woke him up, removed the bed clothes and ”worked himself up” on him.

When the jury retired yesterday for a third night in a hotel, Beck had been convicted on four counts of buggery, one of rape, an attempted buggery, an assault and a charge of sexual assault.

He has been cleared of four charges and faces another 15, including buggering six children. He has denied all the charges.

The prosecution has accused him of a ”reign of terror” at the homes, but the defence has said Beck has been framed in a police cover-up and that witnesses have lied.

Peter Jaynes, 42, of Chatham, Kent, Beck’s deputy at the home, was acquitted yesterday of sexually assaulting the woman after being convicted of assaulting her.

Jaynes has also been convicted of sexually assaulting Mr I.

George Lincoln, 39, of Sudbury, Suffolk, Beck’s former deputy at the Beeches home, denies a joint charge with Beck of buggering a 14-year-old boy.

The Guardian (London)

November 28, 1991

Head of children’s homes guilty of rape: Abuse case jury’s third night in hotel to ponder charges

BYLINE: By IAN KATZ

LENGTH: 384 words

FRANK Beck, the former head of three Leicestershire children’s homes, was yesterday found guilty of raping and buggering a 15-year-old girl in his care.

He was also convicted of buggering a teenage boy who said that abuse by Mr Beck had turned him into a homosexual, and indecently assaulting another 15-year old boy.

All four were in care at the home in Ratcliffe Road, Leicester, where Mr Beck was officer-in-charge between 1975 and 1978.

On Tuesday, the jury at Leicester crown court convicted him of other abuse charges. After more than 18 hours of deliberation, the jury yesterday convicted him of assaulting the 15-year old boy causing him actual bodily harm. The jury retired to a hotel for a third night to consider 15 further charges against Mr Beck and one charge of buggery against his former deputy George Lincoln, aged 39, of Sudbury, Suffolk.

Mr Beck is alleged to have systematically abused and beaten children and staff at the homes where he was officer-in-charge between 1973 and 1986: the Beeches and Ratcliffe Road in Leicester and the Poplars in nearby Market Harborough.

Mr Beck, aged 49, has now been convicted of one charge of rape, three of buggery, three of causing actual bodily harm, and one of indecent assault. He has been cleared of one charge of buggery, one of indecent assault and two of causing actual bodily harm.

A 31-year-old woman who cannot be named said she had been raped and buggered by Mr Beck after discovering him abusing another child at Ratcliffe Road.

Peter Jaynes, his deputy at the Poplars and Ratcliffe Road, was yesterday cleared of indecently assaulting her. On Tuesday he was convicted of assaulting her and indecently assaulting a teenage boy.

Mr Jaynes took over from Mr Beck as head of Ratcliffe Road before leaving to work in Kent in 1980. After studying in Chatham, he became deputy then head of a small children’s home in the county until his arrest last year. He insisted he abandoned Mr Beck’s cruel methods after leaving Leicestershire.

He told the jury he took part in cruelty on Mr Beck’s instructions. ‘Bad things happened at both the homes which should never have happened to young people,’ he said. He claimed his fear of Beck and his own weak personality led him to take part in the cruelty.

The Times

November 29, 1991, Friday

Five more verdicts on Beck

SECTION: Home news

LENGTH: 121 words

A former social worker in charge of three Leicestershire children’s homes was yesterday convicted of sexually abusing a boy who said that the experience had driven him to attempt suicide.

Frank Beck, aged 48, formerly of Braunstone, Leicester, was found guilty of buggery, indecent assault and causing atual bodily harm to Christopher McGuire. Mr McGuire, now 21, had told Leicester crown court that, after being abused, he had attempted suicide. ”I did not want to go on,” he said.

The jury also convicted Beck of two charges of indecent assault and physically assaulting boys. He was cleared of two charges of buggering boys.

Frank Beck’s 13-year reign of terror was carried out under the cloak of a form of “treatment” known as regression therapy. He preyed on youngsters by returning them to the “time they were happiest”, often a vulnerable baby-like state. This involved making them wear nappies and feeding them from bottles, the court was told. The treatment, which has been dismissed as a “fad”, centred on the importance of bonding between mother and child. It is based on the belief that the first five years of life are most important, and emotional growth is seen like a ladder. Failure to complete any stages is felt to lead to deprivation. In reality, children would be told they were unloved and unwanted by their parents, driving them to despair. Beck would then “comfort” children, especially boys, with touching which often resulted in abuse. Leicestershire social services director Brian Waller described the treatment as “pyscho-nonsense”, adding: “It is a million miles from being acceptable.” Psychologists claim the bottle-feeding and dressing of children in nappies is unethical and claim the therapy is “extremely doubtful”. Nick Barlow, psychology services manager for Rugby, who specialises in the use of psychology in social services, said he feared it could be going on elsewhere. “While the Children Act gives rights to youngsters in residential establishments, adults can still misuse their power. The Act is not going to stop this happening again. I fear that something like Leicestershire is going on.” Children should have to give their consent to treatment which should be properly recorded, he said. In addition homes should be monitored and scrutinised.

Press Association

November 29, 1991, Friday

MP DRAWN INTO WEB OF SEX ABUSE ALLEGATIONS

BYLINE: Mervyn Tunbridge, Press Association

SECTION: HOME NEWS

LENGTH: 1132 words

Labour MP Greville Janner’s lawyers advised him not to comment during the trial of the former children’s home chief accused of sexually and psychologically abusing children and staff. The name of the Leicester West MP, barrister and Queen’s Counsel, who was alleged to have taken part in sex sessions with an orphan boy, figured prominently in the two-month case at Leicester Crown Court. Defendant Frank Beck, said to have conducted a 13-year reign of terror in three children’s homes of which he had charge, accused police of covering up the alleged affair between the MP and the boy in council care. The public gallery was packed for the testimony of Mr A, now 30, who claimed Mr Janner sexually abused him over a two-year period and showered him with expensive gifts. Police interviewed the MP in Leicester last March after an outburst by Beck during a preliminary trial hearing. In a statement at the time, Mr Janner’s lawyers said he vigorously denied the allegations. Mr A, married with three children, told the jury he was 13 years old when first sexually assaulted by Mr Janner at his London home after a visit to the House of Commons. More serious sexual assaults took place at Leicester’s Holiday Inn hotel where they allegedly frolicked naked in a swimming pool and shared a double bed on five or six occasions. Mr A maintained he was sexually assaulted twice by the MP while accompanying him on a two-week lecture tour of Scotland. He said he put up with the two-year homosexual affair because he had “grown accustomed” to the toys, cash, concert tickets and visits to expensive restaurants provided by Mr Janner. The alleged relationship cooled after Mr Janner caught the lad stealing money from his wallet. Mr A, who was called as a defence witness, told the jury: “It was my way of getting back at him for what he was doing to me.” He said after he was moved to a childrens’ home in Ratcliffe Road, Leicester, where Frank Beck was the officer in charge, Beck put a stop to what had allegedly been going on. Mr A insisted that he was never abused by Beck and had not seen him abuse anyone else. When Beck gave evidence, he broke down and wept as he described his efforts to halt the “relationship” after Mr A had confided in him. He said he wrote to Mr Janner at the Commons and complained to the then director of Leicesteshire Social Services. “I had spent two years putting right the damage that man had done to that boy and he (Janner) had the audacity to complain to me because the boy had been down to London and met him accidentally. I was incensed.” Beck told prosecutor Peter Joyce QC: “The police told me they knew about Janner and they have covered it up as you have covered it up.” The prosecution claimed that children as young as eight were subjected to brutality and sexual abuse in council homes where they had been placed for safety. Mr Joyce told the court: “Childhoods were stolen, innocence corrupted, bodies abused and minds warped. Some of the weakest, most helpless and most troubled in society were corrupted. “They had their lives totally distorted and twisted by those whose responsibility it was to help them. “These young people were polluted by the poison. Many social workers at the homes ought to have helped but did nothing.” He alleged one 13-year-old girl was raped so many times by Beck that she “felt like a machine”. Mr Joyce said Beck found out she was a lesbian and attacked her “to show her what she had been missing”. When she helplessly called out for her father Beck allegedly told her: “He won’t help you – he hasn’t so far.” Mr Joyce said the social workers Beck abused were young, inexperienced and vulnerable. He claimed that Beck managed to produce in them fear, insecurity and a sense of helplessness and then “counselled” them in private, which resulted in indecency taking place. Beck had introduced “regression therapy” at the homes as a thin disguise for sexual abuse. Children, even teenagers, were given babies’ bottles and read Mr Men bedtime stories. “Children would be taken back into a state of isolation, loneliness and vulnerability in which they were ripe to be abused,” claimed Mr Joyce. “The children were corrupted by cruelty which was the strength and weapon of the tyrant.” Any child who resisted was beaten and sometimes tortured by having a towel twisted hard round the neck. One alleged victim of the treatment wept as he described being raped by Beck when he was about 12. “I can remember taking my head out of the pillow and telling him to get off me,” he said. “But he head-butted me and told me it was what I wanted.” Turning to the dock the witness, now aged 29, shouted: “You know what you did to me, you dirty bastard.” The prosecution said many of the children had returned to Beck even after abuse because they had nobody else to go to. “It’s rather like the puppy that is kicked crawling back to the master that feeds it,” said Mr Joyce. One woman, now 31, told the jury that as a 15-year-old teenager she faked pains in her side and deliberately had her appendix removed in an attempt to escape repeated rape by Beck and sexual assaults by other staff members. Investigating officers denied telling witnesses that they would be able to sue Leicestershire social services for “substantial compensation” if Beck was convicted. “We had so many willing witnesses, we had no reason to try to persuade reluctant witnesses,” said Detective Sergeant Michael Creedon. Beck denied ever physically or sexually abusing children or staff at the homes between 1973 and 1986. He also denied being a homosexual. Defence counsel John Black called the allegations, if true, “a catalogue of man’s inhumanity to children and to other men. “If there is anything worse than this, imagine what it is like to be accused of it if it is not true.” Mr Black challenged the integrity of the police in the case, urging the jury to consider how Beck’s name came to be put into the frame. Was there some over-zealous or malign reason why some people were carried away by the belief he was a monster? he asked. Beck claimed it was often necessary to discuss sexual matters with the children in care, but this was done in an open manner. He agreed that he sometimes had told sexually frustrated boys to masturbate but denied encouraging any form of homosexual relationships between the boys or with outsiders. The police investigation into allegations of abuse took 18 months and led detectives to three continents. Former children’s homes residents were traced in Europe, the Middle East and the United States. Detective Superintendent Tim Garner, who led the police inquiry, said afterwards it had been the biggest case of its kind he knew of.

Press Association

November 29, 1991, Friday

BECK VICTIMS PLAN COMPENSATION CLAIMS

SECTION: HOME NEWS

LENGTH: 89 words

Victims in the case could receive thousands of pounds in compensation for the treatment they received at the hands of Frank Beck. But Brian Dodds, a solicitor representing several of those involved, said a legal hurdle had to be overcome. High Court consent must be obtained for those now aged 21 or over as the abuse took place between 1973 and 1986 and the time limit of three years for submission of claims has expired. Once consent has been obtained, Mr Dodds hopes compensation claims may be settled within 12 months.

Press Association

November 29, 1991, Friday

SEX MONSTER WAS CHILD VICTIM

SECTION: HOME NEWS

LENGTH: 356 words

Frank Beck had a lonely and disturbed childhood – and grew up to become a sex monster. In his youth he was teased about being effeminate. Before he was 13 he was sexually assaulted by a man on a train. Friends at agricultural college dubbed him “Mrs Beck”. But he appeared to overcome childhood traumas, joining the Royal Marines and later going on to become a Liberal councillor and leading childcare worker. But from an early age, he had not had a normal life. The son of a train-driver, he was the youngest of five children, with three sisters and a brother. He was jealous of the youngest of his sisters, who had his father’s looks. He was also the only one of the five who was unable to cry at his father’s funeral. Two days afterwards, he left home. Between the ages of nine and 14 he went to three different schools. He left school at 15 without any qualifications and went to a farming school where he was dubbed “Mrs Beck”. He stood out from the other boys as he did not drink, swear, or know anything about girls. After training to become a pig-keeper, he joined the Marines, spending 18 months in Malta. He went on to serve in North Africa, Singapore and Borneo, where he fell in love with a Chinese girl and a “big Austrian woman”. He spent 12 months in Aden, where he decided he wanted to become a professional Marine and improve the quality of life for younger men. But in June 1969, he left the Marines, advertising himself for work in the Daily Telegraph. For a time he worked as an assistant warden in a probation hostel. Then he moved to Northampton where he wed a Czech girl in a marriage of convenience to enable her to remain in Britain. They divorced later. Beck went on to work with disturbed children in Northampton, where he came into contact with regression therapy. While doing his social work training at Stevenage College he met his second wife Sandra, who was on the same course. But he also remembers being shocked by “wife swapping and political in-fighting” on the course. Soon after the course, Leicestershire appointed him as officer in charge of one of its children’s homes.

The Independent (London)

November 29, 1991, Friday

Beck convicted of sexual abuse at second home

BYLINE: By JACK O’SULLIVAN

SECTION: HOME NEWS PAGE; Page 3

LENGTH: 557 words

FRANK BECK was yesterday convicted of physically and sexually abusing children at a second Leicestershire children’s home, offences which drove one boy to attempt suicide.

Beck, the former head of three homes, was found guilty at Leicester Crown Court of buggering, indecently assaulting and assaulting Mr O, now 21, at the Beeches, Leicester Forest East, where he was officer in charge between 1978 and 1986.

He has already been convicted of nine offences during the previous three years when he ran Ratcliffe Road home, Leicester, including the rape of a 15-year-old girl and buggering four children.

Mr O told the court: ”I did not want to live. I felt it was not right. I cut my wrist. I felt I had to do it. I did not want to go on.” He said he had run away several times, but had always been returned to the home. Mr O had been in care since he was 10 and moved to the Beeches when he was 12 or 13.

He said that he would engage in glue sniffing and Beck would put him under the shower, wash him roughly and bugger him. At other times, Beck would wake him up, put his hand inside his pyjamas and sexually assault him. Beck would threaten to stop him seeing his parents and to send him to prison if he did not comply, Mr O said.

Beck, 49, formerly of Braunstone, Leicester, was also convicted yesterday of assaulting Mr L, also known as Mr L’, at Ratcliffe Road. A verdict is awaited on a charge that Beck buggered him.

Mr L had told the court that in 1981 he took a youth training job as a chef at the Beeches home, after learning that Beck had taken over there as officer in charge. He intended to stab Beck. He told the jury: ”I wanted to take revenge for what he had done. I wanted to kill him.”

However he never carried out the plot, and left the home six days later. Mr L said he had repeatedly absconded from Ratcliffe Road and told his mother and the police about the physical abuse. But he was always taken back. He finally left the home after telling a juvenile court that he would kill himself.

The jury, which yesterday retired to spend a fourth night in a hotel, further convicted Beck of indecently assaulting a teenage boy during several ”counselling sessions”. The victim, now 24, said he had to sit on Beck’s knee and was forced to participate in oral sex. He said that if he failed to become aroused, Beck threatened to have him sent to borstal: ”He made it plain he could have me transferred within an hour.”

The jury has now convicted Beck of rape, buggering five children, attempted buggery, three counts of indecent assault and three assaults causing actual bodily harm. He has been acquitted of six charges, including, yesterday, two counts of buggery.

Additionally, the judge directed the jury on 28 October to return not-guilty verdicts on five other charges. Beck faces a further eight charges, including buggering three children and indecently assaulting two former colleagues. He has denied all the charges.

George Lincoln, 39, of Sudbury, Suffolk, Beck’s former deputy at the Beeches, denies buggering a 14-year-old boy with Beck. Peter Jaynes, 42, of Chatham, Kent, Beck’s deputy at Ratcliffe Road, has been convicted of indecently assaulting a 14-year-old boy and assaulting a 15-year-old girl.

The Guardian (London)

November 29, 1991

Beck found guilty of five more abuse charges

BYLINE: By IAN KATZ

LENGTH: 218 words

THE JURY in the Leicestershire child abuse trial will embark on a fifth day of deliberation today after finding the former head of three council children’s homes guilty of five more charges of sexual and physical abuse against children in his care.

After more than 27 hours of consideration, the jury at Leicester crown court yesterday found Frank Beck, officer in charge at the homes from 1973-86, guilty of buggering a teenage boy who said abuse had driven him to attempt suicide.

Mr Beck, aged 49, was also found guilty of indecently assaulting and assaulting the boy, now 21, who was in care at the Beeches home in Leicester.

In addition, he was found guilty of sexually assaulting a boy of 14 at the Beeches, and assaulting a teenager in care at the Ratcliffe Road home.

After the 10-week trial, Mr Beck has now been convicted of 13 charges – five of buggery, three of assault occasioning actual bodily harm, three of indecent assault, one of attempted buggery and one of rape.

He was yesterday cleared of buggering two boys, and has now been cleared of six charges.

The jury, who last night retired to a hotel for a fourth night, have to decide on a further eight charges against Mr Beck and one against his former deputy, George Lincoln, aged 39, of Sudbury, Suffolk.